Sunday, October 11, 2015

Why do India and China have so many people?

Why do India and China have so many people? (The link does not seem to be working. It is Balaji Viswanathan's article in this https://www.quora.com/Why-are-countries-like-India-and-China-so-densely-populated-What-are-the-circumstances-and-reasons or search the title, via Pramathnath Sastry)Abstract: India and China together hold 20% of world’s arable land (land suitable for a major crop), producing 50% of the world’s rice and 30% of the world’s wheat. They are spread around the Tropic of Cancer (a great zone for human settlement), were unified multiple times in the past (leading to a large land area under one flag), got to the major cereals earlier (rice & wheat), got the benefit of other civilizations nearby (borrowing ideas of wheel & writing systems) and were spared from many of the major human calamities & migrations of history.